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Happy Friday,

Today's deep dive subject is almost exclusively responsible for showing me the power of using Substack to gain followers and patrons, but there's a catch.

Sneakily Moving Toward Greatness

What if I told you that you could quit your day job and make an incredible living with a pen, a sketchbook, and a willingness to share your life's adventures?

That's precisely what Nishant Jain (the self-proclaimed Sneaky Artist) did when he fell into art by accident as a means to decorate his blog posts. With an intent to sketch daily to improve his technique, those drawings eventually caused him to quit his job as a biomechanics engineer and drop out of a Ph.D. program.

I'm sure his Indian parents were not pleased with the decision, but he felt compelled to pursue the things that gave him joy: Writing and art.

But unlike other artists featured in these deep dives, Nishant isn't killing it... yet.​

[ READ MORE ]

Smarter Faster

Codie Sanchez is a firebrand and has strong opinions. She talks about buying boring businesses, which 99% of my readers will not care about. However, Codie is as bright as they come and always shares poignant wisdom about business that savvy creatives can learn from if they pay attention well.

Contrarian Thinking Codie Sanchez Join 500,000+ Contrarians getting the tactics and tools to achieve financial freedom in their inbox every week. Newsletter topics: wealth building, “boring businesses,” and entrepreneur through acquisition. Subscribe​

Using Constraint as a Creative Tool

As I slowly migrate older content over to ConvertKit, some gems from the past can be dusted off and shared new, this one from August of 2022.

You may have heard me share this idea if you've been around me for a reasonable time. And, of course, the opposite is true; if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

Painting, drawing, designing, sculpting, or taking photos are not inherently creative. They are acts that indulge a particular hemisphere of our brains. Anyone can paint on canvas or capture an image with their iPhone, but that doesn't make it creative.

When we allow ourselves to try new media, mediums, motifs, styles, subject matter, and ideas, that’s where real creativity happens.

The bolder we get with our creativity, the more fearless we become, trying new things more often, but that fearlessness comes at a price.

There is a diminishing return on creativity because the more fearless we get, the harder it becomes to find creative solutions that scare us. When we get so bold that nothing shocks us, and we continue making what we’ve always made, our creative muscle starts to atrophy slowly,

However, there is one method that is proven to help generate creative thought no matter how bold and fearless we become…Constraint

[ READ MORE ]

Art Snacks: Mr. Mars

I met Mr. Mars at Designer Con in 2019, and I was so impressed by his exploded spray cans and deconstructed vinyl toys that I decided to try some of my own. Acquiring this level of craftsmanship requires years of dedication. Mars is one of the originators of the exploded can style, and there's a chance anyone will dethrone him anytime soon.

​Website | Instagram​

Biz Bites

• Who doesn't love free money (and paperwork)? Here's a list of November's best art grants and financial opportunities.
• Want to know a secret? The title of this email is different for some of you, and that's because I don't know all the answers, but A/B testing does.
• I legitimately believe more artists should do video streaming, and if you ever doubted why, the only answer is money.
• How often should you post on social media? Daily, weekly? Once every other full moon? Here's a checklist to help you make the decision.
• Imagine a friend took an American Airlines flight, and they could watch your Skillshare class during the flight. Skillshare announced new streaming partnerships that will help teachers earn more. You don't have a Skillshare class yet, and you're not making money? You can change that today.​
• This might be the most comprehensive compendium of links and resources on Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

Art Bites

• My heart exists at the crossroads of art and design, and Kunel Gaur is parked in the intersection.
• ​Cinta Vidal's paintings will make you wonder which way to hang them.
• I can't lie; Parn Arniwat's wood sculptures make me question whether I'm a grown adult man or an anime weeb.
• Ganzeer writes about art in times of conflict.
• Why does The American Museum of Natural History have over 12,000 pieces of human remains?​
• ​New York Cartoons is my new favorite art newsletter.

Desert

• ​Cheaters!​